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Through The Keyhole, with Andy Whitby and Cally Gage

By Caroline Greatwood

Cally Gage and Andy Whitby have been rocking clubbing events throughout the UK. Andy Whitby is a product of a generation of DJs who want to do more than just beat match. Cally Gage is the Princess of all things hard house. Together as Frantic Residents, they are taking over clubland, making their names at events such as Hard House Academy, Twist, Sundissential, Tasty, and Wildchild. I met with them both in their new humble abode in Peterborough to find out more.

PART ONE – ANDY WHITBY

Caroline - You played at Transmission last night, how was that for you?

Andy - Last night’s Tranzmission event was fun. Any pie that Frantic has it’s finger’s into is guaranteed to be a sell-out, just as this was…10,000 nutters wiggling about to all sorts of dance music, lovely! The arena I was in really seemed to fill up when I got on, so that’s always nice to see.

Caroline - What was your tune of the night? What really rocked the place for you?

Andy - Tune of the night for me was either my own ‘U Ready?’, the ‘Marcel Woods moment’ cut’n’paste booty I’ve made or the newer harder mix of Auburn’s ‘Bass Keeps Pumpin’ that my friend Captain Wain Johnstone brought to my attention. All three really took things up a notch and got the kids dancing.

Caroline - Last night, hopefully was good, was it your best gig yet? If not what has been the best set of your career so far?

Andy - A hard question, there’s been some blinders so it’s hard to name one…the last Tidy Weekender was awesome (set of the weekend – Tidy.com), as was HHA vs. H.Q @ Brixton Academy a couple of months ago. Pamshouse is always immense, as is Goodgreef…there’s lots, every weekend’s an adventure in Whitbyland! (laughs)

Caroline - What makes a gig good for you, has it always been the same?

Andy - Good gigs for me are large amounts of people, a great atmosphere and crowds who react to what your doing, that’s one of the reason I love DJ booths that are near the crowd, so they can see what your doing and feed off that. I’m very animated when I play, I try and use the mixer to it’s full potential so I want people to see that and really feel that I work hard to make them dance hard.
It’s always been like this for me throughout my career, if the crowds rocking then I just draw something from them and keep trying to take things up a notch, but if there’s no vibe, I’ll work harder til there is.

Caroline - Alexandra Palace is an amazing venue, what are your thoughts; do you prefer playing big venues or smaller ones? Why?

Andy - I love both as they can create separate vibes. Huge events obviously attract large amounts of people, and because the event is so hyped up and marketed the excitement for it builds in a different way than a smaller events. There’s nothing like dropping a huge record at places like this and seeing thousands of people react all at the same time, my favourite moment like that was coming on after Paul Maddox at Frantic MORE. He had built things up nicely but it was time to take things up a notch. I dropped an intro version of Ratty – Sunrise (P.H.A.T.T remix) and saw 2000+ people all reach for the lazers at the same time, Wil Paterson (owner of Frantic) just looked at me and shook his head with disbelieve…it was a great moment.

At the very same time smaller venues bring something entirely different. You can read the entire vibe of the club better and your usually right they’re in the middle of the action with them, so it’s on a much more personal level.

Caroline - Anywhere you haven’t played yet that you are dying to?

Andy - I’m really looking forward to playing @ the Arches in Glasgow, a booking for there came in the other day so that is going to be special. Apart from there, I’ve pretty much played all the places I want to all over the country, being associated to a brand like Frantic ensures I only play the best parties in London, as they’ve got it locked down. Then each town you go to there’s always one big place that ‘owns’ that town so to speak and I’m happy to report I’m playing at all of those.

Caroline - The Tidy weekender was a pretty big gig for you, how was it?

Andy - Playing at the Tidy Weekender is always a lot of fun, the vibe is just right…all the kids are up for it, they’re all there because they love hard-dance and you know they’re ready to be rocked on that dancefloor. Weekenders are one of those gigs where you really pull out the big tracks; I usually prepare some special bootlegs or tracks for it, as they appreciate the effort.

Caroline - Would you be up for following in the steps of the Organ Donors and Kutski, and showcase your tricks in the Tidy Store?

Andy - I’m not sure, the stuff I do is much different than The Donors and John, so I don’t know if it’d work.

Caroline - Going back to your roots, what got you into Djing, who are your Djing idols?

Andy - Nowadays I don’t really have any, I rarely pay attention to what other DJs are doing unless they’re friends and then we always chat about what’s going down.

One of my sayings is ‘keep your cards to your chest’ which means always keep your business and your big plans to yourself til they’re 100% going a-head. This is because I can guarantee if you tell some people about your ideas, they’ll do them as quick as they can to try and cash in on it. That’s what being in a competitive industry is like, but at the same time I love it…it keep me on my toes.

Caroline - Were you just mixing then or did you produce tunes at an early stage too?

Andy - Just mixing back in the day, spinning records to no-one else other than my bedroom walls and my mother and father downstairs…and how they loved the none-stop thudding of hard-dance music upstairs for hour upon hour.
Finally I got into hardhouse and started making a few bootlegs and then it wasn’t until I signed with my old agency Nukleuz that I made my first records for release.

Caroline - On the subject of production, what gave you the idea for “U Ready”?

Andy - ‘U Ready?’ came about when I was sitting in a hotel before a gig watching Live 8. Madonna jumped on stage and started yelling ‘are you ready to change history, are you ready to start a revolution, I said ARE YOU READY?!’ and I just knew straight away that it’d work so well in a hard-dance track. I wrote down the idea in the little notebook I take everywhere with me and then took the idea into the studio, came up with the riff and bingo-bango…the track was born.

Caroline - Can I have a copy of Set you free??!

Andy - I’m afraid not, no one can have one…it’s an Andy Whitby-set-only track. (Apart from Cally Gage, when she asks nicely!).

Caroline - Finally, if you were a clubber again, who would you go and see (apart from yourself!!)

Andy - If I were still clubbing weekly, I’d definitely go and see all the new-breed DJs; they just make things more exciting. Except the Tidy Boys, Glazby, Pin-Up and couple of others who are still at the top of their games, no-one wants to see people the age of your parents playing records anymore. They want to see kids the same age as them, feeling that moment with them and sharing the excitement. These DJs know exactly what their supporters want to hear; they know what it’s like to be on that dancefloor waiting for the big track brought in by the crazy mix, they know how to interact….so nu-breed all the way baby!

PART TWO – CALLY GAGE (Andy Whitby interviewing)

Andy - It’s your birthday tomorrow, what has your year been like since your last one?

Cally – My year has been fantastic thanks, although I’m seriously thinking about changing my age from now on! How young do you think I could get away with, lol?

Andy – So, you have been quite a focal point of your Residency at Frantic

Cally – Yes I have and it’s been great, I’m loving every minute of it and hope that it continues for a very long time yet!

Andy - Where do you want to take things in the next year?

Cally – In the next year I want to be playing frequently all over the UK and even outside if I can. I am going to be working on a new website soon as well, as I think this is key to me promoting myself and pushing myself further within the scene. I have a few exciting things that are going to be happening over the next few months as well, I am playing out in Ibiza this year for the first time and am also going to be mixing an album – it is going to be me and Andy Whitby back to back for the Frantic Residents 06 album.

Andy - You’ve been playing out for a while now, how did you get into DJing? Who were your DJing idols?

Cally – I got into DJing through my friends really. I was clubbing for a few years and all my friends could mix, I just used to watch them for hours at after parties amazed by it all really. Then someone I knew was selling all his equipment so I bought it all off him and just used to stay in and practise all the time, the rest as they say is history! My idols at the time were people like Paul Glazby really, I used to follow him around to events all the time – that’s why I only really played quite hard when I first learned to mix, I used to love a bit of filth back then!

Andy – And before the Tidy Weekender you had never played a gig in your life then you found herself up against Veloser, Steve James, Colonel K and Nice Gay Danny in the DJ competition. Many of those DJs haven’t been seen since, but on that magical day you got up there and wiped the floor with them all!

Cally – Haha, wiped the floor with them – I like that! Yes Tidy Weekender was my first gig and I didn’t believe I had got that far even on the day of being there, I was so bloody nervous it was horrible. Funny thing was, I nearly didn’t even play as I didn’t actually have a ticket for the weekender! I arrived at the gates and Tidy Russell said that he wasn’t sure he could let me play in the competition as I had sold my ticket before I got there. What he did though was toss a coin and said that if I called the right side he would let me in. He tossed a coin, I said heads and I was right, so I got to play – I guess it was fate!

Andy - You play two different types of set, hard or euphoric. Which do you prefer and why?

Cally – I like to play all sorts of hard house, as I don’t want to be pigeon holed into one genre really. When I first started mixing I played really hard, but my sound soon progressed to the more euphoric side of hard house. Initially I think this was because a majority of girls play quite hard and I wanted to stand out, so chose to broaden my tastes and style a bit more. Now I love to still play quite tough and fast with big baselines, but with huge euphoric hands in the air rifts – you get so much more from the crowd as a DJ with this sort of style and you can really interact. I still love to play hard every now and again as it’s what I started with, you still can’t beat a bit of good ol’ filth every now and again.

Andy - You played at Transmission and Twist last night, how was that for you?

Cally – Alexandra Palace is such an impressive venue that I was so pleased to have been asked to play. Due to the other huge DJ’s that were on that line-up I did play first, but warm up sets are quite rewarding because you are setting people up for the rest of the night and if you get it wrong, it can ruin it for quite a lot of people. Twist was ace too, they had just moved to Turnmills and I absolutely love this venue. When I got there the place was still really busy and everyone was so up for it – it was definitely one of my most favourite sets to date and one that I won’t forget in a hurry.

Andy - What was your highlight of the night/day? What was your top tune?

Cally – I think my top tune at Transmission was the Untidy Dubs mix of “Restless”, that went down really well.

Andy – And what about Twist as you played a more peak time set there

Cally – My top tune at Twist? Well there are actually so many as I was on for nearly 2 hours, so I’m not sure I could pick just one. I played two ‘one mores’ at the end of my set as well – ‘Kick It’ and ‘I Don’t Care’

Andy - How do you cope with Full time work and DJing? Do you hope to give up the day job soon?

Cally – I am not sure how I cope to be honest, I just do and fit sleep in whenever I can really. I would love to give up my day job and work within music full time – hopefully if I keep working hard at it, I will be able to one day soon, that would be great!

Andy - When are we going to see a tune from Miss Cally Gage? Do you have ideas for the studio? Who would you like to make a tune with?

Cally – I get asked this all the time and I’ve decided to stay away from the studio for now and concentrate totally on my DJing – I’m quite happy playing other peoples tunes at the moment! I don’t feel that I’ve got anything to go into the studio with and hope that one day I just will and that’s when I’ll make a tune, I think. There are loads of producers that I’d love to go into the studio with, so I will keep them on my list until I’m ready!

Andy - It’s good to see a young female DJ doing so well for herself. Do you find it has helped your career being a female DJ?

Cally – Umm I’m not really sure, as I’ve never been a man! No sorry, seriously – I suppose it has in a way, just because it is still quite a male dominated scene and seeing females DJing is still a bit of a novelty. I hope that me being a female isn’t the only reason I have got to where I am though, I don’t like to push myself solely on being a female DJ as I think I have other qualities that stand out more.

Andy - If you were a clubber again, who would you go and see (apart from yourself!!)

Cally – Oh, I can’t put myself on the list, boo! I would probably go and see Andy Whitby, Matt Pickup, Lucy Fur, Tara Reynolds, Paul Glazby, Andy Farley, Greg Brookman – I’m sure there are others, but I can’t think of any at the moment!

PART THREE – ANDY WHITBY AND CALLY CAGE UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT:

Caroline - When are we going to see an Andy and Cally tune collaboration?!

Andy – One day, but not anytime soon I imagine. Where I am totally engrossed with the entire studio vibe at present, Cally doesn’t fancy making any music at the moment. I totally support her in that decision though, as there’s nothing worse than people making tracks and not having any direction. Just like my DJing, I think producing is something that comes to you in time naturally.

Cally – One day definitely, but not soon really. Andy is doing so well with his own tunes at the moment and I’m just not ready yet – watch this space though.

Caroline Any plans on you both tying the knot?

Cally – (Laughs) One day, I need a ring first though!

Andy – Of course, Miss Gage has changed my life for the better in so many ways, she’s such a loving caring person who I wouldn’t be able to cope without, so the natural progression is obviously marriage followed by a little man, a mini Whitby!

Cally – What about a little lady?!!!

Caroline - Finally, as we are sat in your lovely house, I have to ask, what would you rescue first if it was on fire?

Cally – Andy!

Andy – Well, as Cally’s already rescued me, I best grab the records hadn’t I! I’ve got pretty much every decent hardhouse record on vinyl from around 1997 onwards, so I’ll have to be strong and attempt to carry them all!

Cally – Its not worth rescuing the mixer, we could claim that off the insurance.

Andy – Oh and the Pioneer TV and xbox360, can’t leave them! Or my clothes, infact I’d wear my jacket, have the TV under one arm and my white labels under the other, while Cally’s carrying me out the door!